Wren turned and ran back to the village. She wished she had never gone to the mint clearing. “Lark! I- uh- Hemlock!” She shouted around Sycamore Village. “Yes?” Lark emerged from the high-rank cave. “What do you need?” “F-Flicker! I found Flicker in the mint clearing…” Wren tried to explain. Lark raised an eyebrow. “What's wrong with that?” The dark brown vixen jumped down from the ledge. Wren opened her mouth to speak but only a whimper came out. “Follow me,” she managed to get out. Lark nodded and slowly trotted after her. After noticing that Lark wasn't keeping up, Wren turned back. “Hurry!” There was no real rush to the situation, but she felt that Lark was going too slow. Lark quickened her pace. They neared the mint clearing, and Wren stopped. Lark had to dig her paws into the ground to prevent herself from crashing into Wren. “Ow! What?” She snapped, losing the pompous image almost all high-ranking foxes held. “Sorry, sorry,” Wren apologised hurriedly. “You go into the clearing first.” Lark nodded quizzically and slunk through the tall undergrowth. She froze midstep, turning back to face Wren. “Y’know, you're kinda scaring me. What are you so scared of…?” Dread filled her eyes as the realisation dawned on her. “You mean-” Lark didn't even need to finish her sentence before Wren nodded. “C’mon. I’m not getting the body without someone else.” Lark announced shakily. Without another word, the two young vixens headed into the mint clearing. * * * Wren sat uncomfortably at the edge of Sycamore Village, working her claws into the dirt and out slowly to ease her anxiety. She and Lark had retrieved the body and brought it back to the village within an hour. Alarms had been set and medics were trying to decipher what- or who- had killed Flicker. Nobody was allowed in or out of the village. (CONTINUED IN N+C)
(CONINUED) An orange fox with black ears and legs stumbled after 4 guards. She was being interrogated. The fox, Pepper, had been on the scouting patrol with Flicker. “I- I didn’t do it! He ate trimble weed!” She yelped, hazel eyes wide with terror. “Alright. Mhm.,” A large tawny reynard mumbled. “Into Hickory’s den.” Hickory was the mayor of Sycamore Village. He was very ill, and Lark had to assume his duties. Hickory only covered the most serious issues. “This is super weird,” Lark muttered. “Everyone is so calm. Usually, when something like this happens, every fox is in a panic.” Wren nodded. She was too young to have witnessed a village lockdown before, but her aunt Quail told her that a few weeks before Wren and her siblings had been born, a village lockdown had occurred for some fox called Nucifera. According to Quail. Nucifera had gone missing -assumed dead- when a pack of coyotes had moved into the area. Coyotes often hunted foxes, easily killing ones of a smaller frame. The coyotes now resided in the small area of the Half Forest that wasn’t being taken over by humans. “Hey, why don’t you stay in my den tonight? I heard they were going to use the pup den for some reason, due to it being almost empty,” Lark offered, obviously trying to end the silence. “Hm? Oh yeah, that would be great. Thanks,” Wren agreed, not paying attention to the conversation. “Great, see you at sundown,” Lark finished, trotting away to her den. Lark’s den was to the right of Hickory’s for she was his only pup. Wren sat still at the edge of the camp, thinking over what had happened. The initial shock was ebbing away, leaving confusion and something else Wren couldn't make out. Her confusion was of how Flicker had even eaten trimble weed. On Flicker’s trial, he had scored top points in the sneaking and herbal identification areas. “How in the world had he eaten trimble weed?!” Wren hissed under her breath. The golden fox rose to her paws, planning to leave for a walk when she remembered that Sycamore Village was on lockdown. “You okay?” A fox spoke quietly, “You look sad and stuff.” Wren turned to face the fox that had walked up behind her. The fox was a bright orange, similar to Pepper’s coat colour. She had greyish-brown sock-like markings on her paws, “Yeah. I’m fine,” even as she said it, Wren didn’t believe a single word of it. “Alright then. I heard you were Flicker’s cousin or something. Right?” The orange vixen changed the subject, detecting Wren’s mood. “Yeah. Where’d you hear it from?” Wren responded curtly. “Uh… lemme think,” the fox struggled to remember, “Quilt? No not Quilt… something with a Q,” She oddly murmured to herself. “Quail?” Wren interrupted. By the moon, how did she not remember the name? Quail is literally the only fox in the village with a name starting with a Q. Actually, she may be the only fox to even have a Q in her name. Wren thought. “Yeah. Quail. That’s the name,” the fox agreed. “I’m Fern by the way! Who are you?” the orange fox, Fern, exclaimed giddily in a sudden outburst. “W-what? Wren-” Wren answered, taken aback by the sudden cheerfulness. This fox really was strange. “Fern. I’m a hunter. What are you?” Fern thumped her tail against the ground like a pup. Even though Fern was at least 6 months older than Wren, she was far more childish. Wren replied slowly and hesitantly, “Still… taking the trial.” “Oh. M’kay. I’m gonna go, I got guard duty for the camp entrance,” Fern yipped and trotted away, tail still wagging. Wren turned back to the hedge that ran around most of Sycamore Village. That was weird. Next: W.I.P. Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/953723049/ First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/949569151/ Feel free to ask me any questions! if you wanna make a thumbnail you can :') YES I GOT A LONG CHAPTER! also sorry it took half a month lol
